Casting...

Here is our chosen cast for our music video. We have images showing who are cast are and have justified our reason of choice below:

This Jess, she is 18 and will be playing the main girl in our music video. We chose her because we both get on well with her and therefore we will feel comfortable asking her to adapt her acting and she will hopefully feel comfortable as she won't be embarrassed to act in front of us. She is confident and will fit the role well as she is average height, so she will be shorter than both boys; this is not particularly important in real life however we hope to make our music video as balanced and appealing as possible and the couple will look best together if the boy is taller than the girl. Jess will also be good at this role because she is pretty and this is important, despite how wrong it could be seen as, as people prefer to watch a video with attractive actors/actresses in it; she will also attract the male gaze as the music genre we have chosen is listened to by both male and female audiences. We also want viewers to be able to relate to Jess, maybe even aspire to be like her and therefore it is important we represent her as a normal, fun, pretty girl.

This is Tom, he is 17 and will be playing the new boyfriend in our music video. We chose him because he is a bit taller than Jess and as mentioned above this will make our video as appealing as possible. In addition he is attractive and fits the role of a cute boyfriend and will therefore appeal to the female audience. Also, viewers will be able to relate to him too, we are representing him as just an ordinary teenage guy who has now got into a nice relationship. People may aspire to be like him and it possibly may make them personally refelect on their life, like their past realtionships for example. Furthermore, because we are showing users the fun times Jess and Tom have had together, it may make viewers want to get into a relationship so they can experience times like the copuple have. He and Jess get on well and should feel comfortable acting like a couple around and being close, this is important within a music video because if the actors are laughing or look awkward then it will not look believable.


This is Jonny, he is 18 and will be playing the ex-boyfriend (who will also be the singer / guitarist). Similarly to the other actors we chose him because he gets on well with everyone and will feel comfortable.  He also used to play guitar so he will be best at pretending to play along with the song, he can play a couple of notes and would be best in making it look realistsic to viewers. He too is taller than Jess and is also in good shape and will appeal to a female audience  Also, he is just an ordinary typical teenage boy, he enjoys sports such as cycling and surfing, listening to rock music including Foo Fighters, Kasier Chiefs, AVA, and playing xbox. Jonny and Tom both dress in fashionable casual clothing such as Superdry and Hollister, this shows to viewers that they are just ordinary people like them. Because Jonny is a relationship, he knows what it would feel like to loose someone who is that close to you and therefore his emotion could be portrayed better in the video. People may feel sorry for Jonny, they may have experienced a similar thing in their life, so can connect with him and know how he is feeling. 

Lawson's New Video Deconstruction

Lawson's new song called Standing in the Dark has been recently released. The narrative of the video is very similar to ours; a guy breaks up with his girlfriend, the girl gets with someone else and he is left wanting her back. I have got some screen grabs of the shots that stood out most to me...

Similarily to our plans for our music video, in this shot we see the guy in the bed singing. I think that this shot really emphasises his loneliness and this is through the use of the long shot. It makes the guy look 'small' and the way he is looking down at the floor helps to really show is emotion. The dull lighting also creates a sad, lonely mood.

This close-up of his face really helps to portray his emotion, you can see that he looks sad and lonely. I like the fact you can see all the building in the background, giving viewers a sense of location. I also like the fact he is wearing quite dull clothing, which helps to fit his mood.

Here is a close-up of one of the band members playing the guitar. In our music video, we plan on having close-ups of someone playing the guitar similar to this, but an acoustic not electric. It helps to make the video more varied and interesting.

This is a shot of the guys feet as he is walking towards the girlfriends house. I like the shot, it is different, yet still interesting. In our video, we plan on having a shot focussing on the couples feet. I think they work well and will make the video more varied.

Here we can see the guy looking through the window at his ex-girlfriend with her new partner. I like this shot, it really helps to portray their emotions and feeling. We can see that the guy is very shocked to see hix ex-girlfriend with someone else. On the other hand, we can see that the girl has moved on and is intimate with another guy.

In this shot, the guy in singing in the rain. I like how they have used the dull weather to fit with his dull, depressed mood. In our video, we plan to hav the ex-boyfriend stood in the rain at some point. I think using the weather is a good way to help create a certain mood/atmosphere.

Props...

Here are some of our images of the props that we are planning to use within our music video:

Guitar- Through parts of the video, we are planning on having clips of the ex-boyfriend miming to some of the song lyrics and pretending to play guitar. He is going to be in natural locations when playing the guitar, such as in a field or in a house, this will help to make it look more realistic. When he is paying the guitar, we are hoping to try and capture his emotion, to really emphasise how much he is missing his ex-girlfriend and how much he wants her back. The use of guitars is common within rock videos, where there is normally a whole band performing: singing, drums and guitars. Because our genre is pop rock, we thought it would be good to use an acoustic guitar.  

We are also planning to have some flowers/roses within our video. We decided this as roses are connotations of love, which our video is strongly based upon. We may have the girl walking along carrying flowers/roses during a bit of our video, showing how she has moved on and is now in love with her new boyfriend, enjoying themselves and having fun. Contrasting from the ex boyfriend, who is going to be playing the guitar, looking lonely and sad.

We are planning on having the ex-boyfriend looking back through old pictues of him and his girlfriend when they were together. We haven't taken the images yet so the image on the left is just an example of what we plan to do. We are thinking of using polaroid pictures as they look more old fashioned, which could be connoting how long they were together and showing all the good memories they shared.

Presenting our moodboard

Here is an image of me and laura presenting our moodboard to the class. It was useful to do so as we were able to gain feedback from both our peers and our teacher. The positive feedback we got were that we had a good range of pictues, showing exactly what kind of shots we are planning on having in our video. Also, the fact we had a range of close ups, mid shots and long shots. The genre was easily recognisable, with all the colours of the images fitting in well. We played our chosen song to the class, and everyone thought that our moodboard matched the song well. The words we had scattered around the page were also liked, as they helped to show the main themes of the video, even though we could've added slightly more possibly. Overall, our moddboard presentation went well, and our moodboard will be helpful for us when we come to shotting our video. 

Moodboard

Here is an image of our moodboard which we created in order to help visually show what our music video is going to be like. In the moodboard, we have included images of some shots that we like. We have images of couples together, enjoying themsleves: holding hands, cuddling, kissing etc. On the other hand, we have images of a guy alone: looking upset, stood in the rain and crying. As well as images, we have included the lyrics to our chosen song and have also got some of the key words written down which relate to our video, like 'memories' and 'love'. We are going to present our moodboard to the class, in order to gain useful feedback from our target audience.

Song Lyrics

Below are the lyrics to our chosen song: 'Like we used to' by A Rocket to the Moon...

I can feel her breath as she's sleepin' next to me,

Sharing pillows and cold feet.

She can feel my heart, fell asleep to it's beat,
Under blankets and warm sheets.

If only I could be in that bed again...
If only it were me instead of him...

Does he watch your favorite movies?
Does he hold you when you cry?
Does he let you tell him all your favorite parts when you've seen it a million times?
Does he sing to all your music while you dance to "Purple Rain? "
Does he do all these things, like I used to?

Fourteen months and seven days ago...
Oh, I know you know,
How we felt about that night.
Just your skin against the window...
Oh, we took it slow,
And we both know...
It should've been me inside that car.
It should've been me instead of him... in the dark.

Does he watch your favorite movies?
Does he hold you when you cry?
Does he let you tell him all your favorite parts when you've seen it a million times?
Does he sing to all your music while you dance to "Purple Rain? "
Does he do all these things, like I used to?

I know, love, (I'm a sucker for that feeling.)
Happens all the time, love, (I always end up feelin' cheated.)
You're on my mind, love, (or so that matter when I need it.)
It happens all the time- love, yeah.

Will he love you like I loved you?
Will he tell you everyday?
Will he make you feel like you're invincible with every word he'll say?
Can you promise me if this was right:
Don't throw it all away?
Can you do all these things?
Will you do all these things...
Like we used to?
Oh, like we used to...

Music Permission Letter

Dear Fueled by Ramen,

We are currently studying A Level Media Studies at The King's School, Devon. For our media coursework we are creating a music video for a song of our choice. We are writing to seek your permission to use the song 'Like We Used To' by A Rocket To The Moon.

Please note, this video will be used only for our coursework and will not be distributed or marketed in any form.  We would greatly appreciate your permission to use this song.

Many Thanks,

Kaylee Hawkins and Laura Dickinson